Domestic furniture.



A. HEAL & H. T. SMITH.

v DOMESTIC FURNITURE. 19g5%94k9u APPLICATION FILED FEB. H, 1916.PatentedJan. 22,1918- 4 SHEETS-SHEET h F g] 6 wfi To, B V

l J fi 1 d s a 0 A. HEAL 85. m. SMITH. oomesnc FURNITURE.

V APPLICATION FILED FEB/H, I916- V 1,25%,49,

Patented; Ja n. 22,1918.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2-.

A. HEAL & H. T. SMITH.

' DOMESTIC FURNITURE.

19g549%99 PLICATION FILED FEB. 11, 1916. Patented Jan 22,

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3'- v A. HEAL 8i H. T. SMITH.

j DOMESTIC FURNITURE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 11, 1916. LQMAWB Patented Jan. 22, .1918;

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4 SHEETS- WETED bTATEd PATENT @FFlQlE.

AMBROSE HEAL, OF LONDON, AND HAMILTON TEMPLE SMITH, OF BROCKLEY,ENGLAND.

DOMESTIC FURNITURE.

LEMEAQQ.

Application filed February 11, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, AMBnosn HEAL and HAMILTON TEMPLE Snrrn', bothsubjects of the King of Great Britain, and residing, respectively, atl96198"lottenham Court road, London, England, and 82 Breakspears road,Brockley, Kent, England, have invented new and usefulIIHPI'OVQIIIGDtS.ill Domestic Furniture, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to that class of domestic furniture such aswardrobes, dressing-tables, washstands, sideboards, cabinets,writing-tables and the like built up of interchangeable units orsections in such a way that the said sections can be combined to formdifferent articles of furniture as may from time to time be required andthe invention consists in the provision of means whereby variouselements or units may be connected together in a better manner thanhitherto.

With sectional bookcases it has been pro posed to provide one elementwith a batten adapted to engage in a slot or opening in another elementthe units being sometimes bolted together.

According to our invention we make use of several standard units orsections of ordinary dimensions which are determined with a view to thevarious sections combining to form pieces of furniture conforming to theproportions established by common usage and convenience and which arenot multiples or sub1nultiples of any theoretic dimensions as hasalready been proposed. The

principal units such as cupboards, chests of drawers and the like arepreferably made as sections and are provided with a batten o1 battensacross the top or bottom respectively adapted to engage with otherelements, such as sections, plinths, stands, cornices or tops, havingrails forming slots to receive the battens, the slot rails beingprovided with a tongue or tongues adapted to engage in a rabbet on therear batten of the sections. Our invention further consists in variousdetails of construction which will be hereinafter described.

To enable the invention to be fully understood, we will describe thesame by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is anelevation of a drawer unit constructed according to our invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of.

Fig. 1.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 22, 191%.

Serial No. 77,650.

Fig. 2 is a plan thereof.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a drawer unit or section.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modified form of drawer section.

Fig. 5 is a detail of the section shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of an intermediate piece.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a plinth.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a cornice.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a chest of drawers unit.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of'a stand.

Figs. 11 and 12 are perspective views of loose battens.

Fig. 13 is a sectional view of the arrangement for locking two unitstogether.

Fig. 14 is a view showing number of pieces of furniture assembled toresemble a continuous fitment.

Fig. 15 is a view of three pieces of furniture each comprising, severalunits locked together.

In the embodimentillustratcd in Figs. 1. 2, 2 and 5, the principal unitsor sections a such as cupboards, chests of drawers and the like arepreferably made as sections having solid bottoms provided with battensZ) which extend transversely across the case near its front and back, asshown, and the rear batten is provided with a rabbet c for a purposehereinafter described. The top of the section is provided near the frontwith a rail 0 which extends transversely across the section, and isspaced away from the front of the section to form a slot 0 of a widthequal to substantially twice the width of the front battenb, so thatwhen one section is superposed upon another the front batten Z) of theupper section will rest and be movable in the slot 0 of the lowersection. Another rail 0 extends across the top of the section near theback of the same, and this last mentioned rail is provided with aplurality of rearwardly extending tongues (Z, which when one'section isplaced upon another, enter the rabbet c. A slot 0 is also providedbetween the rail carrying the tongues (Z and the back of the section topermit the rabbeted batten Z) of another section to be inserted and thenpushed forward to lock the tongues (l in the rabbet e, and secureengagement ofthe front batten 7) with the front rail 0. It will be seenfrom Figs. 2 3 and 5 that the slots 0 merge into recesses h and mountedin these recesses are pivoted latches j which when closed will securelylock the rabbeted batten 6 to the rail carrying the tongues (Z. Singledrawer sections are formed with a batten or battens b on the top orbottom and a corresponding slot or slots 0 on the botcom or top (Figs. 3and at), so that such sections are reversible and may, in building up aseries, be placed either above or below a section fitted with battens,as may be desirable. Furthermore, when a single-drawer section is madeuse of, the sliding drawer is made reversible in the section.

In building up a series of units it sometimes happens that two units amust be placed together in such a way that the battens on the bottom ofone unit are in uxtaposition with the battens on the top of the otherunit. To interlock two sections thus juxtaposed we make use of what weterm an intermediate section which comprises an open frame f (Fig. 6),the external shape and dimensions of which correspond to those of theunit section and which is provided with rails a forming slots 0 toreceive the battens Z) of a section, the said intermediate unit orsection being of a thickness not less than twice the thickness of abatten, so that when it is placed in position between the two said unitsthe slots which are formed in it receive the battens of both units andso serve to interlock the same.

On the other hand it may be desirable to place together two units havingslots, in such a way that the slots of the one are in juxtaposition withthe slots of the other. For interlocking two such units we employ loosebattens 9, Figs. 11 and 12, which are placed in the slots and being of athickness sufficient to engage the slots in both units simultaneouslythey serve to interlock the said units. To prevent these battens fromfalling through the slots, in the top of the lower of two such units, weprovide at each end, ofsuch a batten a short tongue or tenon h whichengages in a groove or notch 72 suitably provided at the end of the slotto receive it. The front one of such loose battens is rabbetedthroughout its upper half as at 71. leaving a part equal in width to thefront batten of an ordinary section as shown in Fig. 11. The rear battenis made narrower than an ordinary rear batten and is provided with acentral slot or slots 2', extending horizontally throughout the greaterpart of its length, the said slot or slots being equal in depth to twicethe thickness of the tongues cl on the rear rails of the open units.

In interlocking the units the rear batten is dropped into the groove ornotch as above described and is slid forward into position on thetongues; it is then fixed in this position by means of pivoted latches jprovided in the notches as shown in Fig. 5. Thefront batten is thendropped into position horizontally by means of bolts in and the upperunit is fitted on as in the case of an ordinary section with battens.

In order to further secure the units together in the vertical directionwe advantageously make use of a bolt and nut fastening as shown in Fig.13. m is a bolt which passes through holes in the top and bottomrespectively of two superposed units each of the said holes being madewith a countersink a to receive a metal bushor cup 0 recessed to receiveanut 0 having an oval boss which engages an oval hole in the saidrecessed portion of the bush. With this construction the nut 19 isplaced in the upper bush or cup and the bolt is passed up through thebottom bush or cup and engaged with the said nut so as to lock the twounits together. To enable the bolt to be turned its head is made with anick or nicks section is employed the bolt must be of sufticient lengthto pass through this section in addition to-the top and bottomrespectively of the superimposed units.

In practice the unit sectionsare preferably made without any externalprojections whereby a number of pieces of furniture can be assembled toresemble a continuous fitment as shown in Fig. 14.

Where it is desired to unite in a horizontal direction two or moreupright series of units to form one piece of furniture such as a twoorthree-section wardrobe, pedestal, dressing-table or the like as shown inFig. 15, the various upright series may be advantageously interlocked bythe employment of a single plinth and cornice, in the case of wardrobes,or a single top in the case of dressing-tables, of a width equal to thecombined widths of the said upright series or small cornices, or plinthsmay be joined ner above described.

Glauns 1. An interlocking sectional structure comthe manprising aplurality of sections, one of which is provided with a front batten andwith a rear batten having a rabbet, another section having a frontrail'which is spaced away from the front of the same to provide a slotof substantially twice the width of the front batten and in which thefront batten is adapted to be inserted and moved forward until it abutsagainst the front of the last named section, and a'rear rail spaced fromthe rear of the second section and provided with tongues which engagethe wall of the rabbet in the rear batten, when said rear batten isinserted in the space between the rear rail and the back of the secondsection, and moved forward.

2. An interlocking sectional structure com prising a plurality ofsections, one of which is provided at its bottom with a front batten anda rear batten having a rabbet, another section provided at its top witha front rail which is spaced away from the front of the same to providea slot of substantially twice the width of the front batten and in whichthe front batten is adapted to be inserted and moved forward until itabuts against the front of the last named section, and a rear railprovided on the top of the second section and spaced away from the rearof the same and provided with rearwardly extending tongues which engagethe wall of the rabbet in the rear batten, when said rear batten isinserted in the space between the rear rail and the back of the section,and moved forward.

3. An interlocking sectional structure comprising a plurality ofsections, one of which is provided at its bottom with a front batten anda rear batten having a rabbet, another section provided at its top witha front rail which is spaced away from the front of the same to providea slot of substantially twice the width of the front batten and in whichthe front batten is adapted to be inserted and moved forward until itabuts against the front of the last named section, a rear rail providedon the top of the second section and spaced away from the rear of thesame and provided with rearwardly extending tongues which engage thewall of the rabbet in the rear batten, when said rear batten is insertedin the space between the rear rail and the back of the second section,and moved forward, and independent means for and is provided withrearwardly extending tongues, another section superposed upon the firstse *tion and provided on its bottom with a front batten which rests inthe space between the front rail and the front of the other section,and. with a rear batten which rests between the rear rail and the backof the other section and is u'ovided with a rabbet in which the tonguesrest, and pivoted latches provided on the first section for preventinginovenient of the battens relative to said rails.

5. An interlocking sectional structure comprising a plurality ofsections, rails forming slots in such sections, tongues upon one of suchrails and a section having battens designed to enter the slots in theopen elements, a bolt adapted to pass through holes in the top andbottom of two superposed sections, each of said holes having acountersink, a metal bush or cup fitting therein, and a nut having anoval boss engaging an oval hole in said bush.

AMBROSE HEAL. HAMILTON 'IEMPLIG SMITH.

Witnesses JOHN E. Bousrinnn, F. XV. PRICE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

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